In September 2003, IAC/InterActiveCorp announced its acquisition of Hotwire.com for $663 million. (Expedia spun off from IAC in 2005.) Hotwire's co-partners under IAC included Citysearch, Evite, HSN, Ticketmaster, LendingTree, RealEstate.com, Entertainment.com, and Match.com.[3]

In 2007, J.D. Power and Associates Independent Travel Web Site Satisfaction StudySM recognized Hotwire for ranking "Highest in Customer Satisfaction for Independent Travel Web Sites" for the second year in a row.[4] In 2009, they were given the 2008 award for the third time in a row.

Hotwire first launched with opaque airline tickets. They started selling opaque hotel and rental cars a few months later. Package offerings started in 2003. In 2004, Hotwire began to offer select retail travel products. In June 2007, Hotwire removed all airfare booking fees.

When hotel rooms, airline seats, or rental cars go unsold, travel companies use Hotwire to fill them. Hotwire does not identify the participating companies until after the purchaser has paid so as not to directly compete with regular retail sales of the travel partners. This sales model is known as "opaque". According to the Hotwire web site, they deal with brand-name travel companies exclusively. This strategy allows Hotwire partners to clear out their supply and sell inventory that would otherwise go unsold. Hotwire reveals the prices and the travel dates of all their products upfront and does not sell via a "bidding" or "auction" model. Hotwire also offers a set of open travel APIs that can be used in travel applications.

Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Hotwire, Inc. functions as an operating company of Expedia, Inc. (Expedia also operates Hotels.com, ClassicVacations.com, and Venere and Egencia.)

Karl Peterson, one of Hotwire's four founding members, served as Hotwire's first CEO. In 2006, Hotwire was overseen by Hotwire's 2004-2006 CFO Eric Grosse, another one of Hotwire's four founding members. In January 2009, Eric Grosse became the President of Expedia Worldwide and Clem Bason took over as President of the Hotwire Group.[5][6]

Hotwire operates with one General Manager and six Vice Presidents on its management team. Hotwire began with 4 employees, and then grew to 80 within months. Currently, Hotwire has over 300 employees.